


Triangulations

by round_robin



Series: Not Such a Terrible Life [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Bathroom Sex, Blow Jobs, Car Sex, Coming Out, Episode: s04e17 It's a Terrible Life, Established Relationship, Family, Family Drama, M/M, Multi, Pie, Polyamory, Rimming, Sex in the Impala, Thanksgiving, Threesome - M/M/M, Wedding Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-08-27 20:13:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16709263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/round_robin/pseuds/round_robin
Summary: “Would your parents be... mad? If you came out?” Benny asked carefully.“I don't think so," Dean said. "They're not the most progressive people in the world—mom's got lots of guns and, growing up, my dad had a dog named Rumsfeld. I don't think they care though. I haven't asked.”





	1. Through the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to add to this series for a really, really long time. Just one more story to kind of round it out, make it a full picture of this relationship. I finally got an idea and I'm very happy with this. There will be a second chapter, but I wanted to post this on Thanksgiving, you know, for the *realism.* I'm so happy I finally figured out how to tie up this series and I hope everyone enjoys!
> 
> Please let me know if you see a typo and it'll be caught and shot.
> 
> As far as the chapter title goes, it's not supposed to be ominous, I just wanted a Thanksgiving themed song and "Over the River and Through the Woods" was originally a Thanksgiving Carol (back when Thanksgiving Carols were a thing).

Dean's phone rang and all three men looked up, even Cas, who was half asleep on the couch, his head pillowed in Benny's lap. It was the ringtone that caught their attention, not the professional tone Dean set for all his business calls, but a chirpy ping-ping-ping, like an old radio jingle.

Dean stared at his phone like he'd never seen it before and Benny took that as a sign to fill the silence. “Who's callin', cher?” He turned down the volume on their movie to let Dean take the call.

Instead of just answering the phone, Dean moved Cas' legs off his lap and stood up. “Be right back,” he said, walking into the bedroom. “Hey dad...” was all they heard before Dean shut the door behind him.

“Well,” Benny said. “That was... odd.” Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time Dean took a call from his parents. Ever. Not in the almost two years they'd all been together. “I don't think they've ever called him.”

“No, he calls them,” Cas said. “On Mondays, when the salvage yard is closed.” While the start of their relationship was unconventional, the three men would describe themselves as equal partners, wholly and completely, that being said, there were things Cas noticed that Benny did not. Cas was like that, so quiet, it was easy to forget he was there. “He usually calls them in the morning before work.”

“Right.” It made sense. Monday was Benny's early day and he was out of the house by five. Dean didn't talk much about his family, as far as Benny knew, they were all on good terms, the lack of communication mostly coming from Dean's end of things. He wasn't really sure how to explain their relationship to his family, and neither Benny nor Cas had a solution. Benny's family knew he was in an _unconventional_ relationship and didn't ask questions, Cas' family simply didn't care. Dean's sister, Jo, knew her brother dated men, and she knew Dean had a boyfriend, she just didn't know the _and_ part of Cas _and_ Benny. It was hard to explain and he didn't blame Dean for dodging the whole situation. But that couldn't last forever.

A few minutes passed and Dean emerged from the bedroom, staring at the now silent phone in his hand. “Dean?” Cas asked. He sat up and inched away from Benny, creating a Dean-shaped opening on the couch between them. In his experience, unexpected family phone calls meant sad news, and they were ready to comfort if needed. “Is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” He was silent for a moment before continuing. “My dad says mom is making him take her skiing over Christmas and I can't come visit then.”

Happiness swelled through Benny. Last year, they all went their separate ways for Christmas, and while he enjoyed seeing his family, he missed Dean and Cas. The opportunity to spend the holiday stuffing both men full of his cooking was a welcome treat.

Before he could get too far into his plans, Cas placed a hand on his knee, quelling Benny's instinct to celebrate any chance for them to be together. Dean was still holding his phone, so there was more.

“Is that all?” Cas prompted.

“They want to see me for Thanksgiving instead.” Dean paused again. “They wanna come here.” His fingers twitched, gripping tight to his phone. “I don't... I haven't figured out, how to tell them about... _us_.”

It was Benny's turn to take the lead. Cas was good when it came to reading minute signs of distress, but Benny was there for the cheering up part. It was his job and he did it well. He got up from the couch, Cas rising with him, and he wrapped his arms around Dean. “We knew this was comin' some day.”

“Yeah.” While Dean leaned into the tight hug, his eyes were empty and distant, calculating all the ways Thanksgiving could go bad, probably. “I know.”

“We'll figure it out. I'll cook, me an' Cas will be perfect gentlemen, we'll make your mamma so happy, she'll be proud having the two of us taking care of her boy. You just watch.”

“Yeah.” A small smile started to pull at Dean's lips. He lifted his hand to hug Benny back, his other arm pulling Cas in with them. “We'll figure it out. It's all gonna be great.”

 

~

 

It was not going to be great. Not even close. Benny was over the moon, he had two months to plan out Thanksgiving, so at least the food was going to be amazing, and Cas was happy to have an excuse to get out of his own family obligations, Dean was the only one who saw what a total, unmitigated disaster the whole thing was going to be. His parents, Ellen and Bobby, were great, he loved them and missed seeing them, and he'd be more than happy to have them visit. But they didn't know he was gay. Or bi, or whatever he was. And if he told them he liked men, how was he going to explain the two boyfriends when they were only expecting one?

“Oh yeah, this is my boyfriend Cas, and our friend Benny, who just came by to cook...” That sounded like the least convincing story in the world. Ugh, how was he going to do this? There was a sudden wrench in his happy family and he didn't know how to get rid of it.

As Thanksgiving ticked closer and closer, Dean's anxiety shot through the roof. Zachariah was already on his ass about “not putting in as much effort as he used to” when Dean started actually sticking to a less than sixty hour week. He did more work than anyone else at Sanford, but because he was Zack's freaking golden boy, he got frowns and motivational chats to “get to the root” of his sudden downturn in performance. His numbers were up, his clients were happy, what else did Zack want from him? Add in the thought of explaining his situation to his parents, and Dean was headed straight for an ulcer.

To their credit, Benny and Cas weren't blind to Dean's change in mood. Each chance they got, they prodded and poked. “You doin' okay, cher? Hard day?” Benny asked.

“Dean, tell me what's wrong so I can fix it,” Cas said with all the subtlety of a brick to the face.

Dean always played it off. “You know, quarterly reports...” or “Just the change in weather, you know how I am with cold...”

But one night, a week before Thanksgiving, Cas and Benny finally got the truth out of him. It was the alcohol, Dean told himself, and the food, it made him stupid and talkative. They were both experts at plying Dean with all his favorite treats, and as they settled down for a movie, Benny brought out a bowl of his stupidly delicious white chocolate popcorn, and Cas stealthily made sure Dean's glass was full all night. At the end of Lethal Weapon 3, his head pillowed on Benny's firm but comfortable chest, Benny's fingers petting through his hair, his defenses were down, he was vulnerable.

“Dean?” Cas said. “Has anything been... bothering you lately?”

The wording came from Benny, that much he knew, Cas wasn't one for subtlety, but in his inebriated state, it worked like a charm.

Dean shrugged, burring his nose more into the crook of Benny's neck, savoring the masculine smell he found there. “Oh, you know, Thanksgiving.”

“What about Thanksgiving?” Benny took over the questioning. Clearly, they didn't think they'd get this far, and Cas was probably out of script.

“Just my parents.” He blew a raspberry with his lips, laughing at the tingle. “I love them, they're great, but they don't know I'm gay. And! They definitely don't know I'm double gay.” Cas and Benny exchanged a look over the top of Dean's head. “I don't know how they're going to react to the two perfect men I live with and fuck regularly,” he continued, his eyes dropping closed as the alcohol really hit him. “I mean, I love you both, and I want us to spend our lives together. How do I say that though? It's not normal, I know it's not, but it's... good. It's us. How do I convince them I'm good? We're good.”

Whatever Cas and Benny thought they'd get out of Dean, they didn't expect that much and it took a moment of silent eye conversation for them to decide on the next step. “Would your parents be... mad? If you came out?” Benny asked, careful to keep his voice low and smooth. He didn't know what could pull Dean from the alcohol-fueled honesty and he didn't want to stop the flow of information too soon.

Dean's head lolled to the side in a kind of no gesture. “I don't think so. They're not the most progressive people in the world—mom's got lots of guns and, growing up, my dad had a dog named Rumsfeld. I don't think they care though. I haven't asked.” Melancholy seeped into Dean's otherwise calm voice. He covered his face with his hands and shook his head. “We don't talk about that stuff. I don't know what they think about. What if they don't like it? What if they don't like me?”

“That's impossible,” Cas said. “Family always cares. It may not seem like it, but even my family cares about me. There is no way the two people who raised you to be the amazing man you are could disown you, or deny you their love, based on who you choose to love.”

Benny nudged Cas with his foot. _Gettin' a little heavy_ , his eyes shouted. “What about your sister? Can she ease them into it?”

“Yeah, maybe...” For the first time since his parents called, Dean's drunk brain saw a small glimmer of hope. His sister, Jo, indeed knew that he appreciated cock, she also knew he'd had boyfriends before, she just wasn't up to speed on the sheer number of _current_ boyfriends. It wasn't the worst idea in the world. He could call her, ask her to prime their parents before they came to visit, then spend the whole week and the whole of Thanksgiving dinner dodging their questions until he found the right “moment.” Yeah, that would work. Because his mother's interrogation skills didn't rival those of a CIA torturer, no...

He closed his eyes and pushed his face into Benny's chest. “Mmm, I don't wanna talk about this anymore.” Sliding his hand downwards, Dean found Benny's cock and gave it a loving squeeze, making it start to sit up and take notice. “I wanna talk about this.”

While they were all too drunk to actually do anything (Benny and Cas were good about imbibing along side Dean if they were using alcohol to get info out of him, drunk interrogations were always more fun anyway) they were lounging in a comfy pile on the couch, it was easy to reach out and start stroking a nearby body part, be it someone's ass or their cock.

Cas leaned over and grabbed Dean's hips, thumbs stroking the soft skin peeking out of at the top of his sweatpants. “Mmm, that's nice,” Dean cooed. He wiggled a little, arching his hips closer to Cas as he continued to gently rub Benny's cock through his underwear. None of them were planning on getting hot and heavy, it was just nice to touch and feel each other.

Benny leaned down, getting in range of Dean's lips. A little more shifting and he managed to kiss Dean, and get a hand on Cas' thigh. Cas laced their fingers together and they were all tangled up, no one knew where the other started and they began, and that was perfect. It was how they lived their lives, always together, always supporting one another. Dean really hoped his parents could understand that.

As they moved together, not really heading towards any sort of conclusion, a warm feeling of love settled over Dean. Yes, he loved these men, and he didn't care what anyone else thought about it.

 

~

 

The next morning, Dean woke up half hung over. He remembered drinking, and movies, and groping. There was something else too, nagging at the back of his mind. Heaving himself out of bed, he walked into the living room.

Cas appeared to be nursing a similar headache on the couch, while Benny was in the kitchen cooking the best hang over cure in the world. “Hey, guys?” Dean rasped, then immediately started coughing.

“Hold that thought, chief.” Benny appeared with a glass of water in his hand, which Dean downed gratefully. Once he was properly hydrated, Benny nodded. “Okay, go ahead.”

“Last night, did you trick me into talking about my feelings?” It was a trick, they couldn't deny it. They knew what buttons to press and pressed them with abandon. They'd done it before and they'd do it again, but it was all fair, he and Cas worked together to get stuff out of Benny, him and Benny worked to get stuff out of Cas (which was usually harder, because if Dean didn't like talking about feelings, Cas definitely didn't like talking about them). It was all part of their relationship, a constantly shifting balance, they were always a triangle, but the shape changed from time to time to meet their needs.

Benny opened his mouth to put some fancy spin on it while Cas simply said: “Yes. Employing underhanded tactics to help is still helping. Did it work?”

Dean thought for a minute. “Maybe?” He searched the inside of his brain for more scraps of the conversation. “Am I supposed to call my sister and have her let my folks know in advance?”

“Yeah,” Benny jumped in before Cas could cut straight to the chase and leave out precious details. “You said she might be able to ease them into it, so they're... more prepared.”

“Right.” Dean pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes to counteract the dull, throbbing pain. “That's actually not a bad idea.” He drank the last bit of water and handed the glass back to Benny. “Okay, I have to go to work in a few.” He kissed Benny on the cheek and went back into the bedroom to shower, dress, and try to turn into a normal human.

After popping about twelve ibuprofen and wolfing down as much of Benny's breakfast as he could, Dean started to feel better. Cas perked up as well. Now, he was sitting motionless on the couch instead of just lying there. He kissed both of them and grabbed his brief case.

“I'll see you tonight, and there better be something special waiting, if you know what I'm saying.” He eyed both of them, giving Benny and unmistakable leer. “From what I remember of last night, you guys started my motor a little. Since we were all too drunk to enjoy it, I expect payment in full tonight.”

Cas managed to lift his head enough to smirk back. “I think we can arrange that.”

Dean kissed Benny one more time and blew a kiss to Cas before heading out.

That night, when he returned home, the apartment was dark, a few candles scattered around various surfaces. Benny stood in the bedroom door, his silky robe barely tied, leaving nothing to the imagination. “Just in time, chief, party's waiting.”

He took Dean's hand, threading their fingers together, and led him into the bedroom. Cas was spread across the bed, a bow stuck to the small of his back. Benny leaned in close and whispered in Dean's ear, “Ready to open your present?”

“But it's not even my birthday,” Dean mock protested as he stripped his clothes.

Cas lifted his hips to urge Dean to take the bow off, but Dean took his time. He knelt behind Cas and ran his hands up and down his thighs, letting the warm, smooth skin drive away every stress he was holding on to. After a moment of touching Cas, he leaned down and grabbed the corner of the bow in his teeth, tugging just enough to unstick it. He tossed it off the bed before laving his tongue over the small red mark left where the adhesive grabbed on to Cas' creamy, lovely skin.

“Thank you,” Cas said, his voice lower than usual, rougher.

Benny stepped up to the edge of the bed and ran his fingers up and down Cas' arm. “Do you like your present?” he asked.

“Oh yes.” Dean hummed into the small of Cas' back as he made his way downwards. “And I think I just got to the best part.”

Leaning on his elbows, Dean caged Cas' hips between his arms and placed one hand on each cheek, gently pulling them apart to expose pretty pink skin. Dean didn't give warning, diving right in and swiping his tongue across Cas' hole. Cas gasped at the sudden rim job and tipped his hips up to get more, his mouth falling open into a moan.

See, one of the great things about Cas was, as long as he was being stimulated, he could suck cock for days. As soon as his mouth fell open, Benny repositioned himself at the edge of the bed. He let his robe fall open and offered his half hard cock to Cas' lips, which Cas gladly accepted. Arching forward, he was close enough to just get the tip in his mouth. Sucking at the head, he moaned and groaned at Dean's every move, which in turn made Benny moan.

With one hand squeezing and appreciating Cas' fine ass, Dean managed to get the other hand around his own cock, lazily stroking in time with flicks of his tongue. He pressed in deeper and Cas moaned, taking more of Benny's cock into his mouth. Benny gasped and placed a hand on Cas' back, he needed the stability to stay on his feet. He tugged slowly at the base of his cock, running his fingers lightly over his balls with every slow stroke, taking care of what Cas couldn't reach.

This went on for a good few minutes, the warm moans and groans filling the room as they luxuriated in each other's mouths. Then, Dean decided to turn up the volume.

He pulled away from eating Cas' asshole long enough to lick his thumb, getting it just wet enough for what he needed. Returning to his task, he licked and blew cool air over Cas' hole, then pressed the tip of his thumb slowly inside.

Really, that's all it took. The added sensation made Cas' hand fly to his cock and a few quick squeezes did the trick. He couldn't moan louder, so she sucked harder at Benny's cock, which pulled Benny over with him.

Benny stumbled back, managing to land in the chair on the other side of the room before his legs gave out. Already exhausted post-orgasm, he watched with half closed eyes as Dean rose up to his knees, hand still stroking his cock. Cas tried to move, give Dean room, but a hand on the small of his back held him in place. One, two, three strokes and Dean came, a deep groan escaping as he watched his come land on Cas' back.

“Oh, yeah,” he sighed before falling sideways onto the bed. “Now that was worth the hangover.”

 

~

 

Dean had to time this perfectly—call too soon and Jo would have “the conversation” with their parents way too early. He didn't want to spend the week before Thanksgiving constantly dodging calls from his mother, “why'd you have to send you sister to tell us? Is that how you think I raised you?” Pass. Ideally, he'd have one day between when Jo told them and when they got on a plane, so timing really was key. He had to figure out what to do for that awkward pick up from the airport, it was harder to bullshit his mother when she was right next to him.

A few days before he planned to call Jo, he got an e-mail from his dad. They got a red eye flight and wouldn't get in until late the night before Thanksgiving. “ _You don't have to pick us up at 2 in the morning. We don't want to put you out any more than we already have. We'll get to the hotel ourselves. I think we rented a car, I don't know, your mom has the details. Just send me your address and we'll get there. And there better be pie._ ”

Dean smiled and a weight inside him lifted. God love his dumb, stupid luck sometimes. He closed the e-mail and went into the kitchen (Benny had been cooking all month, it felt like). “Hey, Benny! Tell me you got pie. My dad wants pie.”

Benny turned, his apron smeared with flower and a large wooden spoon in his hand. He scowled at Dean, gripping the spoon almost like a weapon. “What kind of question is that? Of course I made pie. I have four damn pies. Now shut up and let me work.”

He kissed the back of Benny's neck before getting batted away and returned to the living room. Cas lifted an arm in invitation and Dean joined him on the couch, snuggling in close.

Three days before Thanksgiving, Dean called his sister. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and the thought of leaving an awkward voice mail made Dean's stomach squirm. What would he even say? “Hey Jo, it's Dean, can you do me a favor and out me to mom and dad before they visit? I don't want to catch them off guard, what with the two gorgeous men I live with and regularly fuck, thanks a bunch sis, and happy Thanksgiving!”

Before that became a reality, Jo finally picked up her phone. “Hello?”

“Hey Jo, it's Dean.”

“Oh hey, Dean. What's going on?”

And he was back to awkward. There was no good way to ask this particular favor, even after weeks of thinking about it he hadn't come up with a natural conversation started, so he decided to just blurt it out. “I have a favor to ask you. Kind of big.”

Jo didn't say anything for a few seconds. She'd do anything for her brother (and she knew he'd do anything for her) but the tone in Dean's voice gave her pause. He never asked for _big_ favors, not like this, not over the phone. “Okay, what's up?”

He took a deep breath and let the words fall out of his mouth. “Mom and dad are coming out to spend Thanksgiving with me. You're the only one who knows I... date men, and I... I need you to tell them.”

Jo huffed and Dean could almost see the smoke coming out of her nostrils, like a cartoon bull. “Are you kidding me? You want me to do the hard work of you coming out to mom and dad? No way, it'll be weird coming from me.”

“No, Jo, I'm not asking you to get me out of it, I just need them primed. I'm,” ugh, how was he supposed to say this without giving her too much info? All he needed was for Jo to tell them he dated men, not that he was dating two, that was down to him. “I'm in a relationship now, it's pretty serious. I was going to tell them at Thanksgiving dinner, but I need them ready to hear it. I don't wanna shoot the whole thing at once. Can you imagine how dad will take all that in one conversation?”

Jo and Dean both shared an almost twin-like premonition of their father's reaction to Dean's sexuality and Dean's partner all in the same go. “Hold up now, you're gay? Boy, why didn't you tell us sooner? You just drop it in the middle of dinner like you dang forgot? And it's nice to meet you son, really, but Dean, you should've given us more heads up. I was asking him if you had any girlfriends you weren't tellin' us about!”

“Yeah, okay,” Jo said when they emerged from their shared vision. “I see what you mean, yeah, I can definitely tip them off. Dad will be more agreeable when he has a few days to digest.”

“My thoughts exactly. Can you tell them tomorrow?” He'd have no problem dodging their calls for a day or so. If his mom cornered him about it, he had to perfect excuse: prepping for Thanksgiving (they didn't need to know it was a lie, like Benny even allowed him and Cas in the kitchen anymore).

“Yeah, no problem. I'll just tell them you started dating guys a while back and you didn't want to surprise them. Sound good?”

“Great. Thanks, Jo, I owe you one.” A little more of the nervous tension drained out of his chest. He might just get away with this.

“Yeah, I'll add that to the three million other favors you owe me. And trust me, Dean, one day, I will collect.”

“Don't worry, I know.” Dean lived in fear of the day his sister finally called in her favors. Between him leaving the family business and moving halfway across the country, Jo had done a lot to save his relationship with their parents. He said goodbye and hung up, vowing not to answer his phone for the next three days.

 

~

 

Thanksgiving finally arrived and Dean wasn't as much of a wreck as he thought he'd be, he didn't have time, Benny kept them both busy helping him prepare for dinner. “Oh, you're not touching my food,” he said, “I need you to run out and get me some eggs. I'm out. Oh, and milk, get milk.” Over the last three days, Dean had been to the store so many times, the cashier knew him by name. Part of him suspected Benny was trying to distract him, stop him from thinking about his parents visit and how horribly awry it might go, and he loved Benny for that, he just wished it didn't involve so much cross town driving during a holiday season.

His mom got the hint after a few unanswered text messages that he wasn't going to address anything Jo just told them until he saw them, so after a day and a half of silence, Dean's phone chimed. He jumped at the noise but recovered quickly.

_What's the apartment number again?_

Dean texted her the number and a few minutes later, he heard a knock at the door. Cas materialized at his side and squeezed his shoulder. “It will be fine.”

He squeezed the hand back and walked down the hall. There was no more procrastinating, this was it. Dean opened the door and smiled at his parents. “Hey mom, hey dad. Happy Thanksgiving.”

His mother's lips pinched at the corners, almost in a frown, but not. With one eyebrow raised, Ellen Smith looked him up and down before leaning in and kissing his cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving, sweetie. Now you gonna tell us why you sent Jo to have the hard conversation for you?”

“Oh, c'mon Ma, it's nothing like that. I didn't want to... surprise you, that's all. You come for Thanksgiving and the first thing you hear from your son is: hi, I'm gay now. I thought it might make it weird.”

She seemed to consider for a moment before nodding. “I suppose so. It doesn't change anything, we still love you. I'm glad you told us.”

“Thanks mom, love you guys too.”

Still standing in the front hall of Dean's apartment, they shuffled around to get all the greetings in. His father gave him a one-armed man hug before pulling back and nodding. “Happy Thanksgiving, Dean, thanks for having us on such short notice.” They both looked good, but Ellen clearly took great pains to pry the dirty trucker cap off Bobby's head before they got here. Seeing his parents like this, happy and smiling, calmed the anxiety Dean had for months now. Whatever happened, they were still his parents, and they loved him.

Failing that, once they tasted Benny's pies, they wouldn't care who he lived with.

“Right, come on in.” Dean led them back into the living room where Cas was waiting, ready to take their coats.

As soon as Ellen saw Cas, one eyebrow shot up and a smile started across her lips. “Dean, is this—”

“Mom, dad, this is Castiel,” Dean interrupted her question (he knew what she was going to ask and definitely wasn't ready to drop that bombshell). “Cas, these are my parents, Bobby and Ellen Smith.”

While Cas wasn't the most social person in the world, he was the master of fake it 'til you make it. He shook both their hands, smiling, pretending he knew what he was doing. “Hello, it's lovely to meet you. I hope you don't mind me joining your holiday. My own family is very large and our holiday gatherings are... chaotic. Dean offered me a reprieve for a year. May I take your coats?”

“Yes, thank you.” Ellen nudged Bobby and they handed their coats and hats to Cas. As soon as Cas' back was turned, she smiled at Dean, nudging his arm. “Is this why you had Jo tell us?” she whispered. “Is he your—”

Again, Dean cut her off. “Why don't you guys have a seat? Dinner will be ready soon.”

“It's ready now.” Right on cue, Benny appeared from the kitchen, a glass of red wine in one hand, foaming mug of beer in the other. He handed them to Bobby and Ellen, already turning his smile up a few notches. “Hello, I'm Benny, I'm the cook for tonight. Thank y'all for letting me share Thanksgiving with you, my family's from down South and I don't get home as much as I like. Dean was very kind to invite me.” Ellen smiled at the gorgeous man in front of her, while Bobby smiled at the lovely, foaming beer in his hand.

“Well, it's great to have you,” Dean said. “Means I didn't have to cook. C'mon, let's eat!” Dean herded his parents into the kitchen, and Bobby was more than happy to go. A beautiful turkey sat on the table, along with a steaming dish of mashed potatoes, and he saw at least four pies on the counter. He was set. Ellen, on the other hand, had her eye on Dean.

She hung back as the others sat down and whispered to her son, “Is this why you had Jo tell us? Are you—”

“Right here, mom, right next to me and dad.” Dean was determined not to let his mother get in a word until the end of the meal. That was his plan: keep them occupied, keep them fed, then, once they were too full to care, let them know the... situation.

If Ellen Smith knew one thing, she knew how to bide her time. She'd get the truth out of her son soon enough, so she was happy to sit and have a good meal... _for_ _now_.

Bobby Smith, on the other hand, was more than prepared to leave the situation completely unexamined. He was at his son's apartment, there was good food, good beer, and two suspiciously handsome men. The why didn't matter to him, not as long as the food kept coming and there was pie at the end.

They all settled into a surprisingly normal dinner. After the first introductions, everyone took nearly fifteen minutes to gush over Benny's delicious food. With each new dish they discovered, the praise started all over again. And Benny, always humble when accepting praise, ducked his head and smiled, “Thanks, I work hard on my cookin' and it's good to know it's good.”

“Good?” Bobby mumbled around a mouthful of the butteriest garlic mashed potatoes he'd ever had. “Boy, this is the best damn Thanksgiving we've had in a while. Ellen,” he nudged her shoulder, “before we go, get some of his recipes.”

“Just wait until you have the pie,” Dean said.

Once the communal worship of Benny's food ran its course, Ellen started fishing. “So, Castiel, what do you do?”

“I'm in the army, ma'am.”

She nodded. “That's very impressive.”

“Oh no.” Castiel shook his head. “I'm just a paper pusher these days, nothing impressive about it.”

“What about you, son?” Bobby asked Benny. “What do you do? Do you work with Dean at that highfalutin steel company of his?” Bobby might be more enamored with the food than anything else, but he was still a sharp man, sharp in the sense that he knew how to follow his wife's lead. Ellen knew something was up, after thirty years of marriage, the curious glint in her eye told him everything he needed to know: _I'll talk to this one, you get the other_.

“Ha, after a fashion, I guess,” Benny said. “I'm a contractor. Own my own business, it's a sort of custom carpentry-wood shop kind of deal. I've done some work around Dean's office, but I don't work there. I'm too busy making custom everything for people with more money than sense.”

Bobby raised his glass and clinked it against Benny's. “Ditto here. It started with one scrap yard, now I've got every idiot who's seen a Fast and Furious movie askin' me if I got parts for the stupidest cars in creation. The money's good, I just don't understand it. A car that runs, I get, all this NOS stuff? Color me confused.”

“Amen to that.”

It went on like that, normal, friendly conversation. Benny talked to Bobby about cars, Cas listening intently, and Ellen caught Dean up on some family business.

“Oh, sweetie,” Ellen said. “Did Jo tell you? She's gettin' married.”

Dean almost dropped his glass. “What? No, she definitely did not mention that. Who's the guy? Do I know him?”

As the meal started to wind down, Dean knew he finally had to face the music. When the coffee was pored and last crumb of Benny's apple pie was licked off the plate (not really, but boy did Bobby want to...) Benny stood up and started collecting dirty plates.

“Why don't you take the coffee to the living room and relax a bit? Cas and me can finish cleaning up.”

Ellen made a halfhearted protest. “You boys sure? We don't mind helpin', especially after you went to all this trouble for us.”

“Oh no, don't worry,” Benny grabbed Cas under the arm and hauled him out of his chair, “we don't mind, really. I'm sure you wanna catch up with Dean.”

“Yes,” Cas said, following Benny's lead. “We will clean up. Please, enjoy your time with Dean.”

Well, it looked like there was no way around it now. “Thanks guys, I appreciate it. C'mon mom, dad. You've barely seen the rest of the place.”

Ellen and Bobby followed him out to the living room. Another piece of pie and coffee in hand, Bobby settled into the arm chair. Ellen shot him a dirty look and he set the pie aside for a moment, casting it a longing glance.

Ellen sat on the sofa next to her son, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Dean, sweetheart, there's a big ass elephant in the room. Why don't you tell us what's goin' on here?”

It was blindingly obvious at this point. As far as his parents could tell, he was definitely, one hundred percent dating one of these men. It was time for Dean to tell them which one.

“It's not really subtle, is it? Yeah, when you said you were coming to visit, I wanted to... introduce someone to you. Someone important,” Dean said.

“Personally, I'm rootin' for Benny,” Bobby said. Ellen gave him a kick but he just shrugged. “It's not like that. Castiel seems like a fine man, that pie though...” he cast another longing glance towards his neglected pie.

“Shut it, you old idiot,” Ellen snapped. “We're not here to play favorites.”

“Well, you're not wrong.” Ducking his head, Dean reached up and squeezed his mother's hand. “Truth is, they both live here. With me.”

The words hung in the air for a beat too long and the whole, weird story spilled from Dean's lips. “I met Cas first. He was on leave from the army and we hit it off. Then, he got called up again and he broke it off, I thought that was the end. A few months later, I met Benny while he was renovating my office. I didn't think, after Cas, I... I thought Cas was a one off. But Benny was amazing and sweet, and I fell in love with him.

“When Cas came back from his deployment, he wanted to start back up, but I was already with Benny. I still loved him, and I didn't know what to do. Me and Benny had only been together for a few months and, at first, I thought Benny thought I wanted to break up. Then, he said he didn't mind me taking up with Cas as well, just as long as he was with me too. It sounded crazy, and it was at the start, I told myself they were just trying to make me happy and sooner or later I'd scare both of them away. But they stayed. And one day we all looked up and they loved each other as much as they loved me.

“We fell into it ass backwards but I wouldn't change it. I love them both and this is it for me: a life with Cas and Benny. Both of them. I understand it's weird and really not normal, and if you guys don't understand or don't want...” here, his words faltered for the first time. Family was important for Dean, and this was getting into make or break territory. “If you don't want to visit us again, I get it. But there's no changing my mind. I love them, and they love me. I don't think that's ever going to change.”

The room went silent again, the sounds of plates clinking and water running started to float in from the kitchen. When it felt like Dean was about to burst, Ellen squeezed his hand. “I won't say I understand it, but... are you happy?”

Dean looked up at his mother, tears starting to well in his eyes. “So much, mom, I didn't know I could love one person like this, let alone two.”

She smiled back at him, her eyes starting to well a little too. “That's what's important, then. I won't say we'll be used to it right away...”

“No, that's fine. It took me a while to get used to it.”

Dean looked up at his father, waiting for the last word. Bobby didn't look at him for a moment, he just kept staring at the slice of pie sitting next to him. After a moment, he picked it up and took a bite, savoring the taste. He nodded his head, eyes flicking up to Dean's. “This is some damn good pie.”

They all burst out laughing and the tension in the room broke. Ellen leaned over and kissed Dean's temple and he leaned into her the way he'd done a million times. “That's as good of an endorsement as any,” he said.

A few minutes later, Cas and Benny emerged from the kitchen to happy smiles—if a little teary. They all talked some more, asked more questions, told more stories. When it started getting late, Ellen and Bobby left, making plans to see Dean for lunch tomorrow before they left town.

With one last hug goodbye, Dean shut the door and quickly collapsed against it. Benny was right there to catch him, pulling him close and kissing him deep. “Mmm, I've wanted to do that all night.”

“Yeah,” Dean kissed him again, “same here.”

They all went to bed, exhausted and full, with Dean feeling much happier than he'd been in weeks. Pressed between these two men, the doubt inside him lifted. It wasn't just the doubt and anxiety of telling his parents, but a much larger, older doubt that had been there since they started all this. Could they last? It was always the question in the back of Dean's mind and hearing himself lay out the whole case tonight gave him an answer.

Yes, they'd last forever.

 

~

 

While they didn't get much paper mail these days, Dean still liked to check. He liked the ritual of it, walking down to the long row of mailboxes, greeting neighbors and the doorman, it was nice, it made him feel like he was back in his tiny home town, picking up milk at their dinky corner store. Besides, around the holidays it was good to check the mail often, you never knew who was still sending cards.

Today, he found a thick envelope tucked between two Christmas cards. The return address was from Jo. He tore the card open as he headed back to the apartment and smiled at the girly font—so not to Jo's tastes.

_You Are Cordially Invited..._

“Ah, the wedding,” Dean whispered to himself.

He fished through the envelope and found a small, handwritten note from his sister:

“ _Calling in those favors, big brother. I expect to see you and Cas AND Benny at my wedding.”_

 

 


	2. (Not) Getting Married Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, are you two going to break my brother's heart?” Jo asked. “No offense or anything, but is this sustainable? How do I know it isn't going to end in tears for you guys? Ma told me, Dean said you're in this for the long haul. Are you really?”
> 
> Benny opened his mouth to fight back—this was Dean's sister and they were here for her wedding, and he didn't want to offend, but to call their relationship into question when she didn't know anything about it, that was just too far—but Cas silenced him with a hand on his arm. Fathomless blue eyes pierced right through him, like that had so many times before, and Benny's angry words died on his tongue. Cas shifted that same, unwavering gaze to Jo and she flinched a little. “I'm not sure how much of our situation you are aware of. Please, allow me to tell you,” he said.
> 
> Jo nodded, her mouth open, but no words came out, struck dumb by Cas' intense gaze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally come to the end of this story. thank you so much for being patient for the second chapter of this fic. usually, I don't post multi-chaptered stories until I'm mostly done, but since the first part took place during Thanksgiving, I really wanted to post it on Thanksgiving Day.
> 
> This takes place the next summer, so about six months after Thanksgiving. It's also very long. I had a lot of things I wanted to tie up and the chapter just kept growing... and growing. I'm very happy with where we ended up, from the beginning, I established It's a Terrible Life 'verse Dean as someone who loved the corporate world and worked well inside of it, but I always wanted to get him to a new place. Adding Ellen and Bobby and their family business gave me the perfect way to end it in a truly Supernatural way, because it's always about the family business.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who read this series and enjoyed it. Even if you just read one chapter, I appreciate it. Please enjoy.

Their bags were packed—courtesy of Cas, who not only managed to get all their clothes into two suitcases, but all of their suits into one bag, “Army training,” he said as he packed a large amount of clothing into a tiny, tiny space.

The in flight snacks were ready. Benny scoffed at the mere suggestion that they just get something at the airport. “No way,” he half shouted from the kitchen, “no way I'm lettin' you two pay eight dollars for a substandard sandwich that's nothin' but pita bread and turkey. Trust me, I know what we can take through the gate and what we can't, now hush and let me work.”

With all the packing and snacking taken care of, Dean almost felt like he had nothing to do. Cas and Benny were so efficient, it put Dean to shame. He could've sworn there was a time where he was the most efficient person alive. Time was, Dean could put the finishing touches on a spread sheet, draft a sales forecast update, talk to a client on the phone and eat lunch all at the same time. He used to see that as the height of productivity but with Sam urging him to get out into the world and have more fun in his life, Dean learned productivity at work was never the end all be all measurement of satisfaction. These days, he was more than happy to sit back and let Cas and Benny do their thing. They all had their strengths, and for this particular trip, Dean's strength didn't kick in until they reached their destination.

Tomorrow morning, they had a flight out to California, going to his home town for his little sister's wedding, and if Dean knew one thing, it was where he came from. He lost sight of it for a while after moving to Chicago to take the job at Sandover, got caught up in the big city, even bigger paycheck lifestyle. It was Thanksgiving that set him right (and some of watching Cas moan about his ever expanding family) that made Dean realize just how out of touch with his roots he was. Hopefully, going back for a visit would help Dean feel more connected to the memories and family he was missing more and more these days.

Sam was good enough to drive them to the airport the next morning. He waved them off from the car. “Have fun!” No jibes at Dean about how fun was doing something enjoyable for relaxation. Sam stopped ribbing him about his uptight nature at some point, Dean really didn't know when. He did remember a late night conversation they had after Dean's birthday party last year. They both sat on the couch, a little drunk, the last remnants of Benny's amazing food scattered around them.

“Hey,” Sam said. He reached out and tried to punch Dean's arm to get his attention, but managed to miss and ended up leaning against him instead. “You look really happy.”

Dean took a moment to investigate whether he was indeed happy, or simply drunk. He nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Good,” Sam said. “I like seeing you happy. You're much more chilled out now.”

Dean didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded. “Thanks, man.”

They said goodbye to Sam and headed into the airport. The flight was mostly normal. Some of the TSA people looked on Benny's delicious homemade snacks with envy. With pumpkin bread, white chocolate popcorn, and three fully loaded roast beef sandwiches, Dean didn't blame them.

They got off the plane and stepped into the warm sun and cool breeze of San Francisco. Dean stopped for a second to breathe in the bay air. Sure, the smell around SFO wasn't exactly the same as the Bay itself, but it was better than Chicago.

An old Volvo pulled up to the curb in front of them and Ellen got out. “Hey boys, looks like we got here right on time.”

“Hey, mom.” Passing his suitcase to Cas, Dean gave his mother a tight hug, pulling her close. “It's good to see you again.”

“Same here, honey.” She released Dean and eyed their suspiciously small number of bags. “You still need to pick somethin' up at baggage?”

“Nah, we didn't check anything. Cas is a packing genius.” Dean and Benny loaded their suitcases into the massive trunk and got in the car.

When he opened the front door, Dean found his usual seat taken by Jo. “Hey you, didn't even see you there.” He leaned down to hug his sister, whispering in her ear, “Don't you have a wedding to get ready for?”

“I took some time for you,” she said, then whispered back, “and you think I'm gonna give up the opportunity to meet Benny and Cas?”

Dean's stomach fluttered a little. They were about to spend the next two hours trapped in a car with his tenacious mother and sister. Maybe they should have rented a car...

Much to Dean's surprise, Ellen and Jo behaved themselves. They made appropriate small talk—how was the flight—and did not once as any awkward questions. Dean couldn't think of what they might ask in the first place but he didn't put it past his sister to simply turn around and bellow, “So! What's Dean like in bed?”

Ellen asked Benny questions about his contracting business and Dean pointed landmarks out to Cas as they drove through the city. It was shaping up to be a really nice drive.

As the urban sprawl morphed into green country side and lush coast, Cas and Benny looked out the windows, taking in the scenery, and Dean let the rare calm settle around him. While their home life was great, Dean's work was definitely not. His work load hadn't changed, nor his productivity, yet Zachariah put more and more pressure on him every new quarter to do more, be better, make him proud!

“That's Zachariah,” Cas said after Dean came home late from a particularly exhausting day. “He will suck your soul out if he thinks it will make the stock go up. Ignore him.”

“I can't, Cas,” Dean said. “He's my boss.”

Making eerily direct eye contact, Cas' weighty stare cut straight through Dean. “Does he have to be?”

That conversation just a few weeks ago planted a seed in Dean's mind. He tried not to let it grow, tried not to think about it, but what if Zach wasn't his boss anymore?

Part of Dean hoped the vacation would be a reset. Get away from all the corporate bullshit for a few days, breathe in some country air, and remember what he loved about the dog-eat-dog life of big business. When he got back, he'd be a productive member of the Sandover family again. And if that still wasn't enough for Zach, only then would Dean consider saying “fuck it,” and punching Zach in his big stupid face on his way out the door.

“So, Jo,” Dean said, snapping out of his musings. “Tell me about this Scott guy. Do I know him?”

Jo rolled her eyes. “No, you don't. He's not one of those idiots you went to school with. His family moved up here a few years ago and restarted the old Mitchel winery. He's their head of marketing.”

“Okay, okay, he sounds fine... Hey, Ma, any dirt on him you want to share?”

Jo whirled around in the front seat, snarling at Dean. “What's that supposed to mean? Scott is a great guy! You don't even know him!”

“Exactly. It's weird meeting your soon-to-be husband at the freaking wedding. As a brother, I feel unprepared. So, mom, what's he really like?”

“I'll show you what _I'm_ like!” Jo reached over the back of the seat and slapped Dean's shoulder. He tried to dodge while hitting her back, both of them shrieking and shouting at the other.

Ellen shook her head and made eye contact with Benny in the rear view mirror. “I apologize for the behavior of my children.”

“Aw, no trouble,” Benny said. “I have an older brother. I know how it goes.”

“Yes, this is a very familiar sight in my family as well,” Cas said.

“All the same. I raised them better than this.” She let it got for a few seconds longer before shouting, “Hey! That's enough! You're both too old for this nonsense.”

Scowling at each other, Dean and Jo retreated back to their corners, leaving their mother to roll her eyes at them.

The happy chatter started up again soon after and before they knew it, Ellen announced, “We're almost home. Welcome to Healdsburg.”

She turned into a quaint but fancy little town. Dean scooted up in his seat, ready to point out his favorite spots to Benny and Cas, then frowned when he didn't see any. In fact, he barely recognized his home town. He hadn't been away that long, had he? “Wow, this is a lot different.”

“Yeah, there's been a lot of change in the last five or so years. Folks movin' out, new folks comin' in, new shops. We're quite the tourist destination now,” Ellen said.

Dean continued to frown out the window. The main street looked more or less the same, but when he looked for the diner he and his friends went to after school, there was a wine bar in its place. “I mean, it's nice, it's just so... different.” It had that same quint small town atmosphere with a lot more shine to it, a lot more artisanal boutiques, fewer greasy spoons. He didn't hate it, it was just... different.

Jo tapped his knee playfully. “Maybe you should come home more often, see the sights a little more.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

They drove out of town, down a few more winding roads, before reaching the junkyard. Dean was on surer footing here, the place looked exactly the same: dirt driveway leading to a rusty gate, similarly rusty heaps of cars sitting behind said gate, and a leaning old house sat in the middle of it all.

Dean smiled. “Home sweet home.” He leaned back in his seat, placing one hand on Benny's knee, one on Cas'. “What do you guys think?”

“I like it.” Benny's eyes slid across the yard, spying quite a few unique car parts camouflaged by dirt, or their proximity to the bumper from a gremlin. His inner maker purred at the sight of it all. Yes, Benny had a very lucrative custom contracting business, and he wouldn't trade his success for the world... there were just times where he'd rather make a beautiful custom rocking chair for a family to love and cherish for generations, than another God damn breakfast nook no one was going to use. His brother was all about the functionality of spaces and when he set up the business, that was his goal. But Benny, Benny loved the beauty of things. He wanted to make beautiful, unique objects for people to love. And looking out at all the raw material just sitting in Dean's family junk yard made his fingers twitch.

Cas, always careful with his words, didn't say anything for a moment. His eyes were drawn to the greenery around the property, trees and open fields, there was a lot of space here, beyond the junk yard. He imagined Dean growing up in those fields, climbing those trees. He could see that, very clearly in his mind, and part of him wondered why anyone would leave such a tranquil life. “Yes,” he finally said. “I agree.”

Dean smiled at them both. “Well, Ma, you won't get any higher praise from them.”

“Thank you, boys, I appreciate it.”

Ellen pulled into the gate and parked the car under the leaning carport. It had been like that since Dean was eight but whenever he suggested they fix it, Bobby just shook his head. “The day it comes down on a car is that day that car deserved it.”

Seeing the familiar trappings of his home soothed Dean a little. The town might have changed, but his home would always be the same. There was a lot of comfort in that.

Then, as they all got out of the car, Jo had to go and ruin it. “It might look the same back here, just wait until you see the front. Man, you won't recognize the place.”

Hands half in the trunk to pull out their bags, Dean froze. “What do you mean? What's different?” Yeah, he noticed a new out building that he put up to storage (they were always running out of storage, he remembered one year where he had five mufflers in his room because they “needed the space”) but everything else was exactly the same. Was Jo pulling his leg?

“You'll see,” Jo said, and walked off towards the house.

Dean's eyes snapped over to his mother. “Ma, what's she talkin' about?”

True to form, Ellen didn't directly answer his question. “By the way, dad needs you in the shop. I'll get Benny and Cas settled in your room, you go.” When Dean didn't move, Ellen arched one eyebrow. He'd seen that before and knew what it meant. If she started counting, he was done for. “Dean, your dad needs you in the shop.”

“Why? I'm supposed to be on vacation and he wants me to do work? I don't have any work clothes with me.” And there was no way he was messing up any of his good shirts.

Ellen said nothing for a moment and Dean thought he was in the clear... She took a deep breath and calmly started counting. “One. Two. Three.”

Dean threw up his hands. “Fine! I'm going!” Casting one last look at Cas and Benny, he trudged over to the shop, grumbling to himself the whole way. “I'm freaking on vacation...”

Ellen rolled her eyes. “Sorry for my son's behavior. Y'all wanna follow me, I'll show you to Dean's room.”

They retrieved their bags from the trunk and followed Ellen and Jo into the house. They entered through the back door and into a surprisingly tidy kitchen. All the flooring and appliances were old, but well cared for. Benny hadn't seen the olive green pattern since his grandmother's kitchen and smiled at the familiarity. There was a small, four seat table in the kitchen, and two pocket doors opened to a larger dining room. Both tables were cleared and cleaned, probably for their arrival in an attempt to make the house look neat. Benny saw a few errant piles still resting on chairs, waiting to be cleared away.

The hall was similarly old, but clean and well kept. Family portraits and pictures followed the stairs up to the second floor. Jo stopped in the doorway. “I gotta go, last minute wedding stuff. I'll see you guys at dinner, right?”

“Yes,” Cas said. “We will see you later.”

She waved goodbye and disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving Cas and Benny alone with Ellen. “C'mon, boys, Dean's room is upstairs.” They followed her up the stairs, Benny appreciating the soft wood of the banister, worn smooth with years of hands and children sliding down it. The whole house told him so much simply with the style of the décor and the wood. So many years living in an apartment, he forgot how a house could talk, tell him all its secrets. He missed unlocking those secrets with a single glance.

Dean's childhood bedroom was much larger than Benny would have guessed. Before he could ask, Ellen said, “This is supposed to be the master bedroom, but Bobby renovated the house when we first got it, added a downstairs bedroom, and we put the kids upstairs. If they wanted to sneak out, they had to work for it.”

They placed their suitcases on the bed and Ellen shifted, taking a step out of the room. Benny couldn't put his finger on it, but something about her had changed. Cas knew exactly what it was. Her eyes on the Queen sized bed, she swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. “I, uh, I don't know the... arrangement, you boys have. I got an extra pullout mattress if you need.”

Here it finally was, the awkwardness Dean expected. Cas was just happy Dean was not here to see it, he could only imagine the anxiety spiral it might put him in. “Thank you, we'll be fine. You don't have to worry about us. Please, you should focus on your daughter and the wedding. Thank you so much for letting us stay here.”

The soft smile returned to Ellen's face. “It's no trouble. I've been trying to get Dean to visit home for years. I wouldn't dream of making him stay somewhere else. Well, I'll let you unpack. There's snacks and ice tea in the kitchen.” She walked back into the hall, leaving them alone for the first time in hours.

For a moment, Cas and Benny looked at each other. Benny reached out a hand and Cas took it, squeezing his fingers. It was the first time they'd really touched all day. “Do you think we'll be able to handle a weekend being constantly watched?”

Benny shrugged. “Don't know how much attention anyone will pay us. There's a wedding going on, weddings are attention sucking events. No one's gonna think twice about three guys hanging together all the time.”

“Possibly. Dean's family seems to accept us. Do you think the groom's family will similarly ignore us?”

Benny didn't answer.

 

~

 

When Dean walked into the back room of the shop, his gut unclenched. It looked exactly the same. Of course Jo was pulling his leg. The day Bobby remodeled the shop was the day Dean gave up sex.

Then he walked into the front of the shop and his mouth dropped open. Gleaming glass counters stood in place of the old country shop counter tops he remembered, and the walls were covered with racks of shining, pristine car parts. There wasn't a whitewall tire in sight.

Bobby stood behind the counter, talking to some twenty-three-year-old with slicked back hair and too many tattoos. He saw Dean out of the corner of his eye and smiled. “Hey, Ash, can you show this guy some of your NOS system builds? Thanks, Ash will help you out.” He passed the customer off to Ash—who still had the mullet and denim vest, so at least that hadn't changed—and crossed the shop to Dean.

“Hey, boy!” Bobby opened his arms and pulled his son into a tight hug. “It's great to see you.”

“Great to see you too, dad.” Dean pulled away, still looking around the shop. “Dad, what the hell happened here?”

Bobby sighed and shook his head. “New trends, what can I say? I had so many guys rolling in, asking for newfangled parts, it was either expand and change or close up.”

Of course Dean understood the need for a business to change to match the current market trends... why did it have to be his family business, though? Why couldn't they escape the new trends? Why couldn't it all just stay the same? All this chrome and shine, he barely recognized the shop he grew up in.

He shook himself out of his self pity. “Mom said you needed my help?”

“Yeah, follow me.”

They went into the back room again and Dean started noticing things. When he came in, he was focused on finding his father amid all the junk that usually filled the shop, and now he saw the junk. Piles of bankers boxes stacked up to the ceiling, other piles of loose papers leaned precariously, half on the floor, with a few odd tools strewn around. The old safe was shoved in a corner with another, smaller safe next to it, both nearly blocked by yet more boxes of records and papers.

“Dad,” Dean whispered. “What the hell?”

Bobby took off his dirty trucker cap and rubbed his head. “Yeah, this is kinda what I need you to help with. The shop's expanded so much in the last few months, Dean, you wouldn't believe. A few months ago, I had a guy roll in and special order ten grand worth of parts. Apparently he told some of his friends and the next week, I had two more guys dropping three large. It's been like that ever since. And Scott, well, Scott's family has some connections down in Hollywood, and now I've got producers and prop managers combing the lot for parts. You'd think old Cadillacs were extinct the way they snap up any part they find. Honestly, Dean, it's been so much so fast. I've got help in the front of the shop, you know Ash is a genius with anything you can put gas or electricity in, but all this paperwork... it just got ahead of me.”

“Yeah, that's for sure.”

“My accounting guy's comin' next week to do the end of quarter stuff. Can you please just make it so I have somethin' organized to give him?”

“You want me to organize _this_ in two days?” Dean looked around again, seeing the mountains of paperwork in a new light. “I mean, I can do it no problem, but I don't think I can do this and help with the wedding.” That was the whole reason they came out early. Well, part of the reason. Mostly, Dean wanted to see his family and show Cas and Benny his home town, he was fully aware he'd be pressed into service of getting ready for the wedding, and he was ready to oblige.

“Don't worry. I already talked with your mom, you are excused from wedding duties in exchange for doing paperwork.”

“Alright, I'll do my best.” Pushing past a few boxes, Dean sat down at the desk. He opened the drawer and found the oldest calculator known to man, then quickly closed the drawer again. “Okay, I'm gonna need your accounting books, a calculator that wasn't last used by a dinosaur, a shredder, a packet of pencils, a pen, and a pot of coffee.”

“You got it, kid.” Bobby disappeared out into the yard, leaving Dean alone with a literal mountain of paperwork.

He took a deep breath. “Well, here we go.”

 

~

 

After settling their things in Dean's old room, Cas and Benny decided to take Ellen up on the offer of ice tea. Well, Benny decided. If it were up to Cas, he'd stay in Dean's room, brooding and rummaging through Dean's old things. Narly three years together and Cas always wanted to know more, more about Dean and Benny, and given the treasure trove of Dean's childhood bedroom, it was hard to pull him away from that goldmine of information.

Benny managed to drag Cas downstairs and shoved a glass of ice tea into his hand. “We're on vacation. Relax.”

Cas blinked at him in that owlish 'human behavior is so odd...' kind of way. “Why does relaxing preclude investigating Dean's room?”

“Because,” Benny said as he steered Cas out onto the back porch—he saw a porch swing on their way in and damn if they weren't going to use it. “Sifting through every bit of Dean's life before age eighteen is investigating, not relaxing.”

“I find it relaxing.”

“Well, you're an odd duck. Sit down.” They sat on the swing and after a few moments, Cas' scowl started to melt away. “See? Now this is relaxing.”

Ellen came out at one point and set down and plate of cookies. She sat on one of the other porch chairs and talked with them some, asked how they liked the room, the house, the property. Benny was pleased to find them back in the area of small talk. He suspected the awkwardness upstairs was due to the very prominent bed. People were uncomfortable about sex, doubly so for unfamiliar sex, and their relationship was about as unfamiliar as they could get.

Ellen went back into the house, leaving Cas and Benny alone on the porch to enjoy the scenery. Benny put one arm around Cas' shoulders and gazed out on the large property. There was a junkyard and what looked like an autoshop to one side, and open fields to the other. Benny swore he saw the remains of a long-forgotten tree house hanging from one of the larger trees. He made a mental note to ask Dean about that later.

Benny half expected Cas to start fidgeting next to him (Cas despised inactivity) but after more than an hour, he was still, enjoying the calmness around them. “Thank you,” he said after a while. “This was a good idea. All the noise in the city, I forgot how... soothing the quiet country was.”

Benny squeezed Cas' shoulder. “Anytime, love, anytime.”

He leaned in to kiss Cas' cheek when the sudden clamor of the screen door opening made him flinch away. _Don't draw attention,_ Benny thought it himself, _it's not your wedding_.

Jo stepped out onto the porch and smiled at them. “Hey, how's it going?” She sat in one of the other chairs and took a cookie from the plate, munching it in silence for a moment.

Benny closed his eyes, relaxing again. It was Jo's family home, after all, she had more than a right to sit out on the porch and enjoy the silence with them. And she did. All was quiet for a few minutes, peaceful and calm.

“So, are you two going to break my brother's heart?”

Cas stiffened next to him and Benny opened his eyes. Jo stared back at them, any welcoming softness in her expression gone, replaced with the cold, calculating stare of a woman looking for information.

She took their stunned silence as an invitation to go on. “No offense or anything, I don't know what you guys have going on—and I don't want to know. Is this sustainable? I can't imagining loving anyone else the way I love Scott. So how do I know it isn't going to end in tears for you guys? Ma told me, Dean said you're in this for the long haul. Are you really?”

Benny opened his mouth to fight back—this was Dean's sister and they were here for her wedding, and he didn't want to offend, but to call their relationship into question when she didn't know anything about it, that was just too far—but Cas silenced him with a hand on his arm. Fathomless blue eyes pierced right through him, like that had so many times before, and Benny's angry words died on his tongue.

Cas shifted that same, unwavering gaze to Jo and she flinched a little. “I'm not sure how much of our situation you are aware of. Please, allow me to tell you,” he said.

Jo nodded, her mouth open, but no words came out, struck dumb by Cas' intense gaze.

“Thank you.

“I was with Dean before Benny. I am also a member of the military, and when I got called for a risky deployment, I did not hesitate to serve my country. I knew there was a substantial risk. I love Dean very much and, at the time, I wished to save him the heartbreak of my possible death. I was cruel to him when I ended our relationship. I made Dean believe I didn't care about him or what we had together. I wanted him to let me go and not think of me again, and to some extent, I succeeded.

“I returned from the mission, as you can well see, and I wanted Dean back in my life. I did not know what apology could manage that but I was determined to try. When I came to see Dean...” Cas paused, pulling his gaze away from Jo for the first time to look at Benny. He took Benny's hand in his, twining their fingers together. Benny squeezed back.

“When I came to see Dean, he was with Benny. Part of me believed that was the end. I'd lost the best man I ever knew, and it was my own fault for driving him away. Benny, to his great credit, proved himself to be a better man than I and offered to... share Dean's love with me. He did not know me from Adam, but he knew Dean, and he saw how important I might be to him. You see, despite my best efforts, Dean still wanted me, and Benny was gracious enough to recognize Dean's needs, even when Dean did not. And someone who puts loved ones before themselves is a person deserving of all the love I can give.

“So you see, Jo, it is not a matter of us staying together for Dean and Dean alone, one of us simply waiting around until he chooses. I owe my relationship and my happiness to this man. I drove Dean away and Benny was good enough to bring him back to me. It was a kindness I still do not deserve and probably never will. He gave me back the love of my life, how could I not fall in love with him as well? I am with them both until the day they no longer want me, and should that day come, I will gladly bow out, because I already got more time with Dean than I deserved, and that is all due to Benny.”

Having said his piece, Cas sat back on the swing and leaned into Benny's shoulder. They both averted their eyes, giving Jo a moment to collect herself. Given the rest of Dean's family, Benny had a suspicion they weren't keen on showing emotion to others, so when Jo ducked her head to hide a few welling tears, they gladly gave her time.

A moment past with a few soft sniffles in the silence. Jo stood up and nodded to them both. “Thanks for clearing that up. I'll see you guys at dinner.” Wiping her eyes again, she walked back into the house, leaving Cas and Benny alone once again.

Benny leaned into Cas and kissed his cheek, whispering into his ear, “That was beautiful.”

Cas shrugged. “I merely stated my feelings.”

 

~

 

Five freaking hours of wading through his dad's terrible records and Dean thought his eyes stopped working. The front of the shop was closed and he took that as an excuse to stumble out into the yard and back to the house. He shook his head a few times, clearing the numbers and chicken scratch notes from his mind.

He opened his eyes to see Cas and Benny sitting on the porch swing. Dean's heart skipped a beat. All the times he'd sat on that swing, all the girls he'd kissed there, it never made him happier than the sight in front of him. He climbed the porch steps and checked to see if anyone was around before kissing them both. “Hey guys. Did you have a nice day?”

“Yeah, probably better than yours.” Benny licked his thumb and rubbed at a spot on Dean's ear. “How in the hell did you get ink on your ear? Did the books fight back?”

“Dude, I don't even know. My dad's files are organized like his brain. I found like three spiders in one box.” He collapsed on the porch step and leaned back between Cas and Benny's legs. The swing creaked as they shifted and two strong hands settled on Dean's shoulders, rubbing the tension away.

“C'mon now,” Benny said. “You know you love it.”

No matter how much he wanted to deny it, it was true. Dean thrived on the toil of bringing chaos into order. It was why he got into the corporate scene in the first place: demanding shareholders plus volatile markets? Yes please. Give him a few hours and Dean could give you a breakdown of your business model and what needed to be done to streamline. That's what drew him to Sandover in the first place. Pull an aging steel company out of the biggest crash since 1929 and turn a profit again, it was the kind of project Dean dreamed of... too bad Zachariah's sell your soul for a better profit margin attitude spoiled the whole thing. Dean enjoyed the natural pressure created by the business, not the artificial, anxiety inducing pressure cooker Zach put him in. It took all the joy out of the job for him. In fact, during the last few hours, Dean realized he hadn't had this much fun at work in ages.

“How was your day so far? Did you do anything? I meant to show you around but I guess we can do that tomorrow.” If he wasn't burred under another pile of Bobby's dusty files.

“We mostly sat on the porch and watched the scenery,” Benny said. “It's nice and relaxing out here.”

“Good, good to hear.” Dean leaned his head forward and let Benny massage all his cares away.

“And we tried to allay your sister's doubts about our relationship,” Cas said. “I believe we succeeded.”

Dean's eyes popped open. He whirled around and glared at Cas. “I'm sorry, what happened?”

Benny waved away Cas' blunt words and tried to get Dean to relax into the shoulder rub again. “Nah, don't listen to him. It wasn't like all that. Jo had some questions about our... longevity. We put her fears to rest.”

Wasn't this just the last thing he needed? “Man, I leave you guys alone for five minutes—”

“Five hours,” Cas said.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Please, there are so many places to hide a body around here. Just, please? Please behave.” He dropped his head and let Benny rub his shoulders, resigning himself to the whole thing. If his sister killed his boyfriends at her wedding, so be it.

“I found it to be a fairly respectful conversation,” Cas said. “She was apprehensive about our relationship possibly hurting you, and she asked questions like any concerned family member. I think my words made her feel better.”

“Well, there's a first time for everything.” Benny gave Dean a playful smack and he retaliated by capturing the hand and kissing Benny's knuckles. “Dad still needs my help tomorrow but I wanna show you around the property a little. Maybe take a picnic lunch out to the back woods?”

“That sounds nice.”

Before they got too deep into making plans, Ellen stuck her head out the door. “Dinner.”

They all trooped inside and Dean started towards the kitchen, only to have Jo grab his arm. “We're in the dining room. Too many people for the kitchen.”

He slid open the dining room doors to find a stranger sitting at the table. The man smiled at Jo and Dean connected the dots. “Ah, Scott, good to meet you.”

He stood up and shook Dean's hand. Good opening move. Scott was handsome, in that average looking way: light brown hair, light brown eyes, good jawline, the kind of guy who could never be a leading man, but was definitely the most attractive background extra. “Nice to meet you, you must be Dean. Jo's told me so much about you.”

Handshakes and introductions were made all around, then Ellen emerged from the kitchen with a steaming casserole dish and everyone took their seats. Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Scott pull Jo's chair out for her. Respectful, good.

Meanwhile, Benny's attention was on the food. “Let me help you with that, Ms Ellen.” He followed her into the kitchen and came back out with a heavy-looking pot and a basket of rolls.

Just as they all took their seats, Bobby came down the stairs and joined the table. “Sorry I'm late, had to clean off the grease. So, boy, what's the damage?”

Dean ignored his food for a minute and shifted back into business mode. He shook his head. “Honestly, dad? You don't need an accountant—well, you do, someone who can come out more than once a quarter—you need a business manager. The books aren't your problem, everything is there, it all adds up. Management is your issue. I mean, you got Ash working in the shop when he's best under a car, and Leo in the garage. That boy can sell ice to penguins, he's a fine mechanic, but he's better when he can charm the pants off a customer. You probably need to hire at least two more guys, and you've got the money to do it.”

The first hour staring at Bobby's books, Dean couldn't believe what he was seeing. The autoshop had always been profitable, but the scrap business was much more lucrative. People needed metal for all sorts of things, and Smith Scrap and Auto had it all. Now though, the autoshop was booming. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Bobby was on the verge of a million dollar business, all thanks to a bunch of yahoos from L.A. who wanted to trick out their cars like the movies and would pay through the nose for it.

Bobby rubbed his chin, thinking it over. “A business manager, huh... Sounds reasonable. How about you?”

Dean almost choked on his water. “What?”

“You,” Bobby said again. “You'd be a great business manager.”

“Oh, c'mon dad, you're not serious.”

“Of course I am. You know the business, you have to management skills, and we'd love having you back home. I've been thinking of taking on a partner for a while and you'd be perfect.”

The table went silent, all eyes on Dean and Bobby.

A dozen excuses filled Dean's mind: he had his career at Sandover, there was no way he could leave; with the cut in pay alone, he could never afford California real estate; Cas and Benny had jobs too, they couldn't just pick up and leave it all.

But what came out of his mouth instead was: “I'll think about it.”

The dinner chatter picked up again, a little more muted now. Under the table, Dean felt one hand on his knee, then another. They both gave a comforting squeeze.

After dinner, they all poured into the living room to relax and watch movies, one last day of freedom before wedding duties completely took over the house.

“My family is all driving up tomorrow,” Scott said. “Tonight is my last night to relax.”

“You better believe that.” Jo kissed him and Dean smiled. As far as he could tell, Scott was an okay guy, and anyone who could handle his sister definitely knew what they were in for.

Dessert and coffee were served and people started drifting off to bed. Jo went to see Scott out, leaving Dean, Cas and Benny alone for the first time all day.

He took their hands in his and pulled them up from the couch. “Follow me. I wanna show you guys something.”

Dean led them out to the back of the house, through the junk yard and towards and old garage.

Benny caught on before Cas and squeezed Dean's hand. “Dean, is this...?”

Dean threw open the garage doors and flicked the light switch. He grabbed the dirty car cover and, in one strong pull, the gleaming finish of the Impala shined out at them.

“Cas, Benny, I'd like you to meet Baby.”

Shined to perfection, the smooth line of the '67 Impala was a wonder to behold. Benny's hand hovered a few inches away from the polished surface, almost afraid to make contact with such a beautiful machine.

“Dean... she's gorgeous,” he whispered.

“I have to agree,” Cas said. His eyes rolled across Baby's smooth finish, appreciating the curves of a clearly well-loved automobile.

Dean pulled the keys from a hook on the wall and unlocked the doors. “Get in.”

Low to the ground, the muscle car was difficult for the three large-ish men to climb into all together, but the wide bench seats were more than roomy. Dean hopped into the front seat and turned towards the back. Despite having more than enough room, Benny and Cas pressed right up against each other. Constantly monitoring their behavior today was exhausting and the closeness brought some relief. While no one came out and said it, Benny was smart enough to notice the strange little glances Dean's family threw their way. It wasn't a hateful thing, more... unfamiliar. And since it was Benny's habit to consider the comfort of his hosts, he kept his distance from the loves of his life. Finally having a moment to themselves was lovely.

Benny slid his arm between Cas and the seat, pulling him as close as possible. Cas shifted to accommodate and the back of his shirt rode up a little, exposing a stripe of warm skin. Like a magnet, Benny's fingers pressed against the newly bared skin, diving under Cas' waistband to get more.

“Mmm,” Cas purred at the contact. “Dean. Have you ever had sex in this car?”

A wolfish smile curled across Dean's lips. “Why do you think I brought you out here in the first place?”

“In that case...” Cas shifted, half lying in Benny's lap as he fished in one of his pockets. Benny took the opportunity to grind his hips up, giving Cas a taste of the already sizable bulge forming in his pants.

Cas produced a half-empty tube of lube from his pocket.

Benny stopped his rubbing for a second. “Where did you get that?”

“Dean's room. I explored a little when you were in the bathroom.”

“Man, I haven't had sex in my room since my senior year of college. Is that bottle still good?”

“Of course it is. Lube does not go bad.”

Cas spoke with such authority Dean and Benny didn't think to challenge him. As soon as Cas unzipped his pants and pushed them down, exposing his cock, neither of them even wanted to question him.

Pants around his ankles, Cas made quick work of Benny's zipper. The cramped confines of the Impala didn't seem to matter and before they knew it, Cas lubed Benny's cock and sat down on his lap.

“Oh, hell!” Benny gasped. Cas was a maniac, they all knew this, and no matter how many times he simply plopped himself on Benny's lap without so much as a “hello,” it still surprised him. Benny braced one hand on Cas' hip and the other on the ceiling of the Impala, settling in for a good ride. Bracing his hands on the seat in front of him, Cas rose up and down on Benny's cock, tightening his core with each thrust, making Benny moan that much more at the tight squeeze of all Cas' muscles.

In Dean's opinion, he had the best seat in the house. Cas' face was inches away from his, close enough to kiss his soft beautiful lips, or nuzzle into his neck and smell the sex sweat beading there from all the hard work he was doing. But Dean had a better idea.

Reaching down under the seat, he slid the front bench seat as far forward as it went, and leaned it back. It didn't put him directly in front of Cas' cock, but it was close enough. He leaned over a little more, craning his neck just a bit... and there it was. Cas' neglected cock slid into Dean's mouth and he went to work.

It was Cas' turn to be surprised. His hips stuttered for a second before resuming their thrusting rhythm, and Dean went right along with him, bobbing his head up and down, taking as much of Cas' cock as he could. Without his hands to steady Cas' cock in his mouth, Dean wasn't exactly presenting his best technique, but none of them seemed to mind. With every thrust, more and more spit gathered in his mouth, dribbling onto Cas' pubic hair and down his balls.

The sight of the glistening trail from Dean's mouth to his sac was too much and Cas' hips stuttered again. “Uh, uh, Dean!” he cried out in that sandpaper and honey voice of his.

Bitter come filled Dean's mouth and he swallowed it all down. Spit on the Impala's leather was one thing, come was completely another. He so did not want one of the shop guys detailing it one day to find a patch of suspicious stickiness.

Sweat poured down Cas' face in the cramped car, the windows long fogged over. Even though Cas didn't like to quit before he was done, Benny had to step in. He lifted Cas off his lap and guided him to the seat. “You just relax, now, we got plenty of time.”

“Here, switch with me,” Dean said.

Cas gathered his trousers up and slid out the door. It took a bit of shuffling, but he collapsed onto the front seat and Dean slid into the back. Hands tangled together as both he and Benny tried to unzip Dean's pants. Car sex involved a lot of fumbling and this was no exception, but finally, Dean's shoes hit the floorboards, followed by his pants, and they were in business. He laid down on his back, letting Benny settle between his legs.

Rescuing the bottled of lube from where Cas stashed it (he was pretty sure the old ash trays in these muscle cars weren't intended for _that_ ) and set about preparing Dean the right way. Cas was a maniac but Dean liked a good fingering before the main event. Two slick fingers slid inside him and Dean threw back his head. “Uh, oh yeah, give it to me.”

The heat in the car was almost unbearable but it heightened every moment. The sticky skin on the inside of Dean's thighs clung to Benny, each movement sending a shock all over his body as they disconnected and connected all over again every time they moved. When Benny braced one hand on the seat, the other just behind the head of his cock, and started the first sweet push, Dean arched and moaned at the new point of connection, the deepest one they had.

While Cas was truly out of it and had almost no energy, he still wanted to be a part of the happenings in the backseat. Dragging himself up, he leaned across the front seat and threw an arm out. Dean caught his hand, squeezing it tight. His other hand snaked down under Benny's shirt, grabbing his shoulder for stability as he got the pounding of his life.

“Oh yeah,” Benny purred. He snapped his hips, hard, wringing more sounds out of Dean. “You like that, cher? We doin' good?”

“Fuck yes!” Dean growled out the words, his back arching with each thrust, guiding Benny's cock exactly where he wanted it to go. Each breath of thick, stifling air made him feel fuller, and each pass of sweat-sticky skin against his drove Dean closer, and closer...

Dean arched, throwing his head back and exposing his neck. A deep, predatory growl rolled through Benny's chest. Oh how he wanted to bite that neck... but they all needed to be presentable in a day's time, and Benny's love bites were made to last. He grabbed Dean's shirt and wrenched it to the side, exposing his shoulder. One of the buttons tore off, pinging against the window, and Dean didn't even notice. Benny bit down on the tanned, salty skin and moaned as he came. Dean's fingers dug into his back for stability as he fell over the same cliff right after Benny.

After the longest seconds in the world, they both collapsed, spent and sticky, and thoroughly satisfied. Cas smirked at them from the front seat. “That made the whole trip worth it.” Dean was inclined to agree.

 

~

 

The next morning, Dean had every intention to take Benny and Cas on a lunchtime picnic and a walk around his family's property. He got up early that morning and put together the picnic basket and everything, then headed into the autoshop office early to grind out some more paperwork before taking off at noon to enjoy his relaxing vacation.

That plan was on track until exactly 11:37, when a group of five tricked out cars pulled up out front. Scott got out of a cobalt blue plastic monstrosity and ran into the shop ahead of the other guys. “Bobby! You gotta help me! My cousins are gear heads from L.A. and they know about your shop. They heard about it at one of their fake street race party things. They want me to get them a discount. Please, can you do something?”

“Shit,” Bobby sighed under his breath and ran into the back, pulling Dean out from behind the desk where he was busy crunching some serious numbers. “Big sale,” he said, “but they know Scott, so they think they can get a discount. Give me a number that'll seem like they're getting away with it, but won't hurt us.”

Dean staggered into the front of the shop where Scott's friends were already pouring in, their eyes sliding over the gleaming car parts like kids in a candy store. Dean took a second to tally them up—bros, the lot of them, most in finance, one in real estate, meaning they all had serious cash to burn. He quickly looked outside at their cars: fancy, nothing classic, a lot of shine, a lot of plastic. They'd get good parts from Bobby, and they'd pay almost anything for them.

Another second of mental math and Dean had his numbers. “Tell them there's a fifteen percent friends and family discount, bump it up to twenty if they rack up more than eight grand.”

Bobby pat him on the shoulder. “Good boy. Help me with these yahoos for a little? I can't help five customers at a time, and Leo's on lunch.”

Dean glanced at his watch and frowned. He was supposed to be on lunch in a few minutes... “Okay, fine. But after we clear them, I'm taking the rest of the day off.” Bobby agreed and they went to work.

Fifteen minutes later, right after Dean sold a truly staggering amount of purely aesthetic car parts, the bell over the door jingled and Cas and Benny walked in, picnic basket in hand. They both frowned when they saw Dean in the middle of a sales pitch. He tried to apologize with his eyes while not losing focus on his sale and he saw Benny nod. With a small wave, they left the shop again.

 

~

 

Benny looked down at the picnic basket in his hands. “Well, we have lunch. It'd be a shame to waste it. We can walk around by ourselves, right?”

Cas considered for a moment. “I believe, with my special forces training, and your innate sense of direction, we will not get lost on this relatively small plot of land. I mean, I don't know about you, but I've made my way through deserts unharmed.”

Benny smirked and took Cas' hand. “Let's go then. I think I saw a little hill next to the house. Might be a nice place for a picnic.”

For the next few hours, they toured around the Smith property. It wasn't what one would call small, but not large either. On top of the small hill next to the house, they could see the main road and the rest of civilization. They walked through tall grass and sat down to eat the picnic Dean prepared for them, then continued around, marveling at the beautiful trees. Benny took a closer look at what he previously suspected was an old tree house, smiling at the rough craftsmanship of two young kids insisting on doing it themselves.

Beyond the tree, almost near the edge of the road, a small structure caught Benny's eye. He hadn't noticed it on the drive up but it was clearly a shed of some sort. There was something about it... just the way it sat quietly next to the road, the log cabin design giving a timeless, even elegant look.

Benny nudged Cas. “Let's take a look over there.”

He couldn't put his finger on what drew him to the shed and, as they got closer, the pull got stronger. The wood was weather treated but left its natural color—no paint to fleck away—and what a beautiful color it was. If Benny had to guess, he'd say cedar. Up close, the log cabin style shed was bigger than he first thought, and the design of it was both different and harmonious with the property and buildings around it. It fit, but added a little something extra as well.

Resting his hand on the door frame, Benny took a second to close his eyes and imagine...

“I know that look,” Cas said. He stepped up behind Benny and placed a hand on his shoulder, offering connection while still giving space. “This place—it speaks to you.

“We haven't said anything about Bobby's offer. Dean needs to figure out what he wants before we make plans, and when he is ready to talk, I will tell him the same thing I'm telling you right now: there are army bases all over this country. If you two wanted to live in Alaska, the army bureaucrats up there would be glad to have me. Wherever you two choose to go, I will follow.”

Tears tickled the back of Benny's throat. He focused on the ground while he collected himself, not because he was ashamed of his tears, rather, he didn't want to let Cas do all the emotional heavy lifting right now.

After a moment, Benny felt in control of himself again. He gave Cas' hand a squeeze and turned around. “Let's get back to the house, see if they need any help with tomorrow's shindig.”

They headed back, their fingers laced together as they walked.

Inside the house, they found Ellen and Jo at the kitchen table, dozens of little cards with delicate calligraphy names arranged on a seating plan scattered around them.

“Need any help?” Benny offered.

“Yes, please. Fucking seating arrangement will be the death of me.”

Ellen lightly smacked Jo's arm. “Language. Can you at least pretend you weren't raised in a junkyard for just one more day? Yes, boys, we'd appreciate it.”

Cas and Benny sat down and began matching guest names with table assignments. After a few minutes of quiet, Benny said, “Ms Ellen, do you mind tellin' me about that shed down near the road? It looks real nice.”

 

~

 

The next morning arrived quicker than anyone wanted. It felt like Dean had barely tripped into bed, pressing sleepy kisses to whoever was in reach, when the alarm started blaring.

“Uh, no...” he grumbled. He got a lot of good work done (organized Bobby's fire hazard of an office, drew up a new schedule for the employees, and made some sales in the process) and didn't regret it for one minute, but damn, he missed spending time with Cas and Benny. “This was supposed to be a vacation,” he groaned as they headed to the shower. “I feel like I've barely seen you.”

“Don't worry, we have all day today and tomorrow to hang out,” Benny said.

“Yeah...” It wasn't the most ideal situation, but he'd take it.

Once they were all dressed and ready to go, they barely got to the bottom of the stairs before Ellen rounded on them. “Hurry up. Bobby's in the car out front, he's waiting for you three.”

“What's the rush? The wedding isn't for another two hours.”

Benny shook his head. “Dean, cher, two hours is _nothin'_ in wedding time.”

Ellen smiled, happy that at least one person agreed with her. “Exactly, so move your ass.”

Outside in the car, Bobby looked just as harangued as they were. “Your mom's got Jo and the bridal party all sorted out. They just need us to be an 'advance team' down at the winery.” Bobby rolled his eyes. “She's probably just gettin' us out of the way. Don't think there'll be much to do except meet and greet, which is gonna suck. Promise me you won't have a wedding. Get married all you like, just don't make me host one of these circuses again.”

The drive to the winery was nice enough. Bobby wasn't much of a talker, which gave Dean time to actually show Cas and Benny some of the town. Maybe they'd come for another visit soon and he'd actually get to relax.

Just like Bobby said, there wasn't much use for them at the winery. Scott's family owned the place, so it was essentially a free wedding venue. Part of Dean was glad for it, if they let her, Jo would get married in the family junkyard...

They walked around mostly, looking at the dinning room where the reception would be, and checking out the patio where the ceremony was. Decorators and one very speedy woman who looked like a wedding planner, buzzed around the space, mostly ignoring the three men in formal wear.

“This isn't a bad spot for a wedding,” Benny said. “I like the view of the vineyard.”

Just as they settled in to enjoy the view for a few minutes, the patio doors burst open, startling the wedding planner for a moment before she returned to fluffing the flowers around the aisle. Scott, half dressed, rushed over to Dean, grabbing his arm and holding on for dear life. “Dean, man, I need a favor. Please?”

“Uh, sure.” Dean let Scott drag him off the patio and into the grooms men's dressing area. Three of the guys from the shop gave Dean a wave before going back to their pre-show drinks. Scott's sweaty hand still clutched Dean tighter than the jaws of life. “Scott, I'm gonna need that hand back.”

“Right, sorry.” Finally letting go, Scott started rooting in a small suitcase. He held up two necklaces in front of Dean, his hands shaking. “I need your help, man. Your mom won't let any of my guys in to see Jo, and I don't know what her dress looks like. I wanna give her one of these to wear for the reception, but which one? Can you go in, see which one looks better, then report back to me? Your sister is so damn hard to get gifts for and I really don't want to fuck up the wedding gift.”

Well, he was right on that. Jo was the kind of woman who knew how to crunch a beer can on her forehead, dress a fresh bullet wound, and walk in high heels. She wasn't easy to pin down at the best of times, let alone by a nervous groom on his wedding day.

“No sweat. I got it.”

Scott sighed and some of the tension visibly left him. “Thanks, Dean, you're the best.”

Both necklaces in hand, Dean headed down the hall towards the bridal party's changing room. Scott was barred from that hall completely, but it was his winery, and he knew the layout.

The sign on the door didn't say anything helpful like _Bridal Suite_ , rather, a paper sign in Jo's handwriting exclaimed: GO AWAY!

Dean knocked. “Go away!” his sister shouted from inside.

“Jo, it's me.”

There was silence for a second, then, “Fine.”

The door opened and a woman Dean thought he recognized as one of Jo's school friends let him in. Two other familiar-looking women walked past him into the hall, closing the door behind them and leaving Dean alone with his sister.

What was obviously a private tasting room had been converted for the bridal party. A large mirror and a few over stuffed chairs were wheeled in to make it cozy, while some fussy little tables and a stack of spit buckets were pushed in a corner with a sheet half thrown over the whole stack. Jo sat in one of the chairs, her body as stiff as Dean had ever seen it, and no wonder, with the rows and rows of tiny buttons adorning the back of the dress, keeping Jo inside of it.

“Wow,” Dean said, slightly staggered at the sight of his sister as dressed up as she'd ever been. “You look beautiful.”

Instead of her usual sarcasm or biting wit, Jo smiled. “Thanks. This is the only pretty thing I've ever had. Well, the only pretty thing I ever wanted for myself. Look what I can do.” Standing up carefully, Jo lifted her arms over her head and swished, the skirt of the dress following her movements. Swish, swish, back and forth, like the froth of a beer spilling over the rim. It was beautiful.

“Nice.” Dean felt tears prickle at the back of his eyes and quickly cleared his throat, producing both necklaces for Jo. “Scott asked me to see which one matched your dress. Which one do you like?”

“That one, have him give me the other for my birthday.”

Dean put the delicate gold chain back in his pocket, and held the silver one in his hand to return to Scott in the correct order. “Okay, I'll let him know.”

“Wait.” Jo called him back, reaching out a hand towards her brother. “I have to tell you something.

“I just want you to know, over the past few days, watchin' you with Cas and Benny... I don't say I understand it, but I see why they make you happy. And I can really tell, they love you Dean, so much. One day, I just hope I'm as happy as you guys are.”

Again, tears threatened to spill, but Dean sucked it up. He squeezed his sister's hand. “Thanks. It means a lot to me that you... that you get that part of it.”

“If you're happy, Dean, I'm happy. Are you happy?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

 

~

 

The ceremony was beautiful and, much to Dean's surprise, Jo managed to hold together the “radiant bride” look throughout.

After the speeches, toasts and tears, the reception finally turned to dinner and dancing. And with all eyes on the bride and groom, Dean finally felt a weight lift from his chest. Under the table, he held Benny's fingers with one hand and Cas' with the other. They all bobbed and swayed with the music, knowing everyone would be too focused on the bride to nudge them into dancing.

When the DJ started on a few loud dance songs in a row, Cas casually rose from his chair and leaned down to whisper in their ears. “Men's room?”

Dean took a quick look around the room. Most of the male guests were seated at their tables or at the bar, some on the dance floor. Dean nodded. “Men's room.”

They slipped out of the reception hall and down towards the bathrooms. Benny checked under the stalls. “No one here.”

It was one of those fancy bathrooms with a separate mirrored area and a counter, and a rather unsteady-looking chair pushed into one corner. They probably didn't have long and got right down to business. Grabbing Benny's jacket, Dean smashed their lips together, shoving his tongue half way down Benny's throat. Benny gave as good as he got and bit down on Dean's lip, the tinge of pain heightening each touch.

Cas made himself useful by unzipping their pants, bringing their already hard cocks out. He knelt down and licked one, then the other, going back and forth as Dean and Benny ferociously kissed, leaning back on the counter for support.

One hand bracing himself on the counter, Dean shooed Cas out of the way, wrapping his free hand around his and Benny's cocks. It was tight, but pressed together as they were, it was easy to stroke and thrust together, wringing moans and groans out of them both.

With Dean and Benny taken care of, Cas got to his feet and opened his own pants, taking out his cock and lightly stroking. He stood next to Dean, pressed up against him, and wrapped his free arm behind him for added support.

“Uh, thanks...” Dean moaned. He threw his head back, resting it in the crook of Cas' shoulder. Lips now free, Benny dove in, licking up and down Dean's neck. He couldn't bite yet... not until after the wedding.

When Dean's body started to tighten, Cas dropped back to his knees again, sealing his mouth over the heads of both their pricks and waiting. He didn't have to wait long.

Benny cried out first, and Dean went a second later, both spilling into Cas' mouth. It wasn't the best arrangement and Cas didn't manage to contain all the mess, but his hand was there to stop what little was left from staining their suits. Love bites Benny might be able to explain, come stains on formal wear were another matter...

Dean collapsed onto the counter, his breath hard and ragged. Benny still had the presence of mind to turn to Cas. With a few vague motions, Cas stood up and Benny dropped down to his knees, taking his still hard cock in his mouth and sucking like his life depended on it. Dean distracted Cas with some lazy, tired kisses until he came too, moaning against Dean's lips as Benny sucked him dry. Dean held tight to them both, needed them more than air. Whenever they were apart, Dean felt like he was drowning, and this weekend was worse than usual. He'd hold tight until they made him let go, and lucky for him, Cas and Benny never wanted to let go of him either.

They probably didn't have long until someone needed to use the bathroom, but they took one small moment to sit there in the afterglow, blissful happiness swirling around them.

“I wanna move back to California,” Dean said, his lips still pressed against Cas', breathing in time with him. “I've been thinking, and I want to be here. I want to work in my family shop and make it run like the great business I know it can be. And I want you two here with me.”

They didn't say anything for a minute. Benny grabbed the counter and pulled himself to his feet. “There's this little shed, on your family's property. I asked your mom about it. She said it used to be a wood shop before your dad opened the junk yard.” He smiled, stroking Dean's cheek. “I wouldn't mind making it a wood shop again.”

“Benny and I discussed this possibility briefly,” Cas said, strangely coherent while they were struggling to form sentences. “The army has bases all over the country. I can work from anywhere. If this is where you want to be, it is where I will be as well.”

For the next twenty minutes or so, they talked out more of the details. Benny wanted to expand his business, maybe make an offshoot that specialized in custom woodwork rather than drywall, so he wouldn't have to close the business he already had, just expand it. Sandover was killing Dean, they all knew it, and getting back to the family business seemed like the best way to breathe life back into what Dean loved about the corporate game in the first place. There was still so much more to do, but this was definitely a place to start.

 

~

 

Their clothing all straitened up, they quietly entered the party again and made their way over to the family table. Ellen sat next to Bobby, their hands softly intertwined on the table top as they watched their daughter dance with her new husband.

As soon as Cas, Dean and Benny sat down, Ellen's eyes snapped to them. “Where'd you three disappear to?”

“We had some stuff to talk over.” It wasn't technically a lie, and his parents really didn't need to know about what preceded their conversation. “Dad, I wanna be your office manager. I'll take a leave of absence from work for a few months, get us all settled here, then resign from Sandover. It's time for me to come back to the family business, and I think we can make it a truly great business. You just need to know: Cas, Benny and me are a package deal. If I'm here, we're all here. Are you good with that?” All weekend, they'd danced around exactly how his parents felt about the two men in Dean's life. Sure, they were okay with it when they were a few states away, whatever made Dean happy, after all, but could they really be okay with it long term? When it was right in front of them?

Bobby's smile threatened to split his face. “Of course, son! I'd love to have you back. All of you. Your mom said Benny was interested in my old wood shop. I can see it now: Smith Custom Cars and Parts, right next to: Lafitte Fine Crafting. Oh, it'll be great.”

They talked and talked, the plans taking shape as the wedding roared, then started to die down around them. Jo and Scott came over and once she heard their plans, Jo's eyes lit up. “Custom auto parts, custom wood working, fine winery and dining, we're going to have this town sewn up! You won't be able to throw a stone around here without running into us.”

As the night grew late and more guests left, they all continued their plans. Cas mostly listened, nodding and adding small suggestions at various intervals. Around midnight, Dean stopped for a moment and watched Benny and Bobby haggle over the shed (“Can we expand it? It looks mighty cozy.” “Nah, it's the perfect size right now, I'll build another if you really need the space...”) and he realized, he was holding hands with Cas and Benny. It wasn't hidden, like before, now their hands simply rested on the table just like his parents, and no one said anything.

It worked. Somehow, it all worked. He had the loves of his life, they were about to move back to his home town and expand his family business... it was just so amazing and perfect. In Dean's wildest dreams, he hadn't imagined a life like this, and now he had it.

He squeezed Benny and Cas' hands, and they squeezed back.

 

~

 

Four months later, Dean walked out of Sandover for the last time. Twelve hours after that, he got on a plane to California, Cas and Benny waiting to meet him at the gate.

The End

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I was recently a brides' maid in best friend's wedding, and let me tell you, even the most coordinated wedding is a circus. Hence Bobby really not wanting to do another one any time soon.  
> 2\. The chapter title isn't significant, it's just a song from Company. I was looking for a non-obvious wedding song for the title.  
> 3\. Scott isn't supposed to be a character from a show, it's just a random name I thought of. I didn't want to include any other side characters beside Ellen, Bobby and Jo (because they are mentioned in the original episode as Dean Smith's family) but i couldn't resist having Ash work at Bobby's autoshop.  
> 4\. I know zero things about cars, which is why I kept descriptions vague.  
> 5\. Visual aid for the shed Benny fell in love with: https://montanashedcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Glacier.jpg  
> 6\. The word "artisinal" was flagged by my spell check, so I don't know if it's right. Also, I hate that word and don't care if it's wrong, thus is my disdain of artisinal cafes.  
> 7\. All typos are my fault, please let me know if you see one.  
> 7\. Again, thank you to everyone who read an enjoyed this series. I really enjoyed writing it.

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, all Dean's worries are for nothing. I definitely wasn't going to write a negative coming out story, but as we've seen, this Dean likes to ramp himself up into a tizzy.
> 
> I know there wasn't much sex in this chapter. I just felt weird having a drawn out sex scene when the plot (as far as this has a plot) was really about Dean's family. It just felt out of place. Next chapter will have more, promise.


End file.
